One year I received a Christmas card from a mentor of mine, he signed the card, "May You Become Pregnant With the Purposes of God. He knew that part of my history involved issues with infertility but he also knew that my heart longed to be involved in some sort of ministry. God always seemed to speak to me through this friend and so I began to pray about his message to me. Instead of praying for more children, I simply prayed that God would indeed let me become pregnant with His purposes and to make them clear to me.
Since I am trained as a therapist, my first inclination was to use my professional skills to provide Parenting classes and workshops. So for the next several months, I worked diligently to market my classes/workshops. I can't even tell you how many letters were sent to daycares, schools, churches, and parents in the community. But I had little response. Then one day, God began to show me that it wasn't parenting classes and workshops that he wanted me involved in, it was spiritual parenting--Disipleship. He began to open doors that I never would have opened myself and He placed me in a position where I had the privilege of discipling approximately 45 of the 80 member congregation that I was in.
Most of these members were senior citizens who had been in the church all their lives, but somehow they missed being taught the basics of Christianity. How precious it was to see person after person between the ages of 60 & 80 come to me with tears in their eyes, thanking me for helping them to finally understand their Bible or teaching them to pray. I can honestly say that I've never experienced anything more satisfying than when I've been involved in discipling others.
My mentoring friend passed away before I had a chance to share how his words impacted my life but he would have rejoiced with me in all of the spiritual children God blessed me with.
Jenni B.
Comments